I was just sent an e-mail from a review I did almost 2 years ago of a restaurant 6 hours away from me. They said that they are new owners and wanted to comp me 2 dinners if we're ever in the area and would I please remove the review (I rated it 3 stars).
I wrote back that they should contact TA and all the old reviews will be taken down.
I was quite stunned that they were offering to comp us meals! I would never take them up on that offer. It's just not the right thing to do..
I didn't know you could just take down your review from TA??? Or do you mean because they are new owners of the restaurant??? Boy people will do anything these days! Gets kind of ridiculous at times I think.
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catlady said:
I didn't know you could just take down your review from TA??? Or do you mean because they are new owners of the restaurant??? Boy people will do anything these days! Gets kind of ridiculous at times I think.
You can & it's a flourishing business from TA side.
Recently i saw 7 negative reviews taken down from TA. The reviews were right (I was having dinner with some friends & the hotel owner whose hotel was in question) My converstation over dinner with him was quite straight to the point, & after what he did, i chose to to shut up & wonder.
To cut long matters short, he just called up someone from his mobile & told me to refresh his hotel's site when i return home (cherry topped it with a smile and wink). Well, all the negative reviews were gone. New ones as well as old one's & in their place 1-2 new positive one's had popped up. This all happened within 3 hours. Positive one's were those which were negative at first. So, the reviews were edited to make them appear favourable.
Later that night, i met him on FB & he said casually "tell you what, my hotel won't have even a single negative review now". I asked his friend (through whom i met the owner in the 1st place), & he said the owner pays money to someone in TA, which falls cheaper than taking TA listing & provides free stay to TA members.
And it's not only this hotel owner, i have heard of many B&Bs doing the same.. no wonder they never have any "proper reviews". Moreover, you got people from everywhere who provide services for a small fee for posting reviews on TA.
Frankly i have never come across any forum which has unbiased reviews. I have seen hotel owners book their own hotels to post favorable comments on expedia etc.
Love it or hate it, it's how things are.
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